George Karl Out as Head Coach in Denver - Possible Option for Raptors?

Dwane Casey will be back as head coach of the Toronto Raptors next season.

I think.

Well...that's how newly minted Toronto Raptors' GM Masai Ujiri has made it sound so far.

But it's certainly not 100 per cent sure at this point, as Ujiri in his Tuesday presser noted that he still wanted to sit down and talk with the Raptors' current bench boss.

From the Toronto Sun:

"I've talked to Dwane Casey a couple of times and we're going to sit down and I will understand what his philosophies are and I will tell him what my philosophies are and I'll tell him what I think needs to be changed," Ujiri said. "For me this organization is going to be like this now (hands together) and we will all be on the same page and have the same goals."

So one has to wonder a bit if the news that just came across the wire (courtesy of Woj of course) changes things in any way.

The Denver Nuggets have reportedly parted ways with coach George Karl meaning Ujiri's head coach of the past few seasons, is on the open market. Karl and the Nuggets apparently could not come to an agreement on a contract extension and the Nuggets therefore decided to go in a new direction, rather than have Karl wading through the final year of his contract in limbo.

The question that exploded on Twitter of course, right after the Karl news broke:

"Would George Karl join Masai in Toronto?"

Right now it's hard to see it happening. Sportsnet's Michael Grange tweeted "no chance" regarding it, and the Toronto Sun's Ryan Wolstat tweeted:

"Nah, I'm done with George (laughs). No, Dwane Casey is our coach. I had three great years with George and I have to come here."

Which was a comment made to him recently from Mr. Ujiri.

Also, Grantland's Zach Lowe just tweeted:

Source w/ knowledge confirms Karl will not be a candidate for Raptors job this summer. Dwane Casey has one year left on his deal.

Tack on the fact that Karl would likely prefer taking over a team already in a position to compete for a top playoff spot (ahem, Clippers, Nets) and it's hard to envision a scenario where the man once known as "Furious George" is pacing the Raptors' sidelines next year.

Which in my books is a good thing.

I've always felt that Karl was an overrated coach,a solid motivator, but poor tactician, the latter being evident pretty much every time he was involved in the playoffs. I'd prefer to keep Casey over Karl at the least and if Casey is shown the door, someone other than Karl being given the reigns.